"FIA Wrongly Ignored Our Agreement"

Turkish Automobile Sports Federation (TOSFED) Acting President Eren Üçlertoprağı has made a statement on the International Automobile Federation (FIA)'s decision to reject Turkey's bid, despite the agreement TOSFED signed with the championship promoter for Rally Turkey to be held as part of the 2017 World Rally Championship (WRC).

After China's round was removed from the 2017 WRC calendar, Rally Turkey emerged as one of the leading candidates, and the TOSFED management carried out a series of efforts to bring the WRC back to Turkey in 2017. Following visits by championship officials to Turkey and the sharing of the event's organisational details, TOSFED and the championship promoter signed an agreement at Rally Catalunya in Spain at the beginning of October.

However, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) rejected Rally Turkey's place on the World Rally Championship calendar, saying it did not want to take a risk because of the political situation and security in Turkey. In his statement on the matter, TOSFED Acting President Eren Üçlertoprağı said they had signed the agreement with the promoter after spending considerable effort and time throughout the year on talks held under the FIA's supervision, but that after the signing the FIA informed them the agreement would not come into force. Üçlertoprağı said that immediately after this notification they read the unfortunate statements made by FIA officials about Turkey's political and security situation, and added: "Especially when we look at the security problems experienced in European countries, we have to say that the FIA's statement is not fair. We invite FIA officials to our country and want to show them that our country is as safe as other countries in Europe."